Ottawa Senators coach Bryan Murray has benefited from the patience of general manager John Muckler. Despite Ottawa's atrocious start, Murray still has his job and the Senators have started to right the ship. (Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images)
Viewpoint: Scott Morrison
For GMs, patience is a virtue
Last Updated Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006
by Scott Morrison
Bryan Murray is a bright guy and a good hockey coach.
But he is no brighter or better today than he was, say, five days ago.
It just appears that way.
An 8-1 thumping of the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, followed by a thorough 6-2 dismantling of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, are making the Ottawa Senators look much more like the team everyone expected than the one that listed through the first six games of the season.
By extension, that means Murray was obviously a better coach the past two games than he was in the first six.
Not so much. Or, not entirely.
The point is, while the Senators staggered out of the gate they still managed to exercise the three Ps: patience, prodding and perspective. While all around them were either poised to, or already in, full panic mode, the Senators were stoic. Instead, Murray prodded his players to be better. Sometimes the prodding was gentle, sometimes it was public and painful. But he coached and challenged the players, especially his best players, to improve, and so they eventually did.
He juggled lines, he reduced ice time, he rewarded efforts, he offered criticisms, and he coached.
Which brings us to the patience part. General manager John Muckler maintained the perspective of what six games really is, meaning not a season or the end of one, and refrained from blowing things up and firing his coach. That is not to say if the Senators hit the skids again this season there won't be changes, but a certain calm was maintained because it is early. Very early. Heck, baseball season isn't over yet.
Which leads us to Philadelphia and other hot spots in the NHL, places such as Columbus and Phoenix and even Calgary. We will overlook Los Angeles and Boston because they entered the season with new coaches.
In Philadelphia, the circumstance of Bob Clarke resigning because of burn-out made it easy for management and chairman Ed Snider to fire coach Ken Hitchcock. They wanted a clear, new direction. It's a wrong decision, but one that is easier to sell.
In Columbus, there have been whispers about coach Gerard Gallant being on a short leash and folks have even been wondering whether Wayne Gretzky the owner will fire Wayne Gretzky the coach in Phoenix. Some were even wondering whether Darryl Sutter would suddenly rediscover his passion for coaching and make a casualty out of Jim Playfair in Calgary.
Alas, be patient.
Calgary, of course, is a different beast than the others. Like Ottawa, the Flames are a team with high hopes and big expectations. They need time to find their way obviously, but there is no reason to believe they won't. So relax. They could find the right direction as quickly as the Senators seemingly have and maybe the thrashing of Phoenix is a break-out point.
Columbus is another team looking to make a major step up this year with some good, young talent, the way Minnesota and Atlanta (so far) have, for instance. But they have just two wins in the first seven games and all eyes are on general manager Doug MacLean, to see if he will make a coaching change. He says no and that is the right call for now.
Phoenix, meantime, is floundering with each passing game, but a coaching change isn't going to solve their issues, which is a severe lack of healthy talent. Now, if Gretzky considered returning to the ice, it might help, but replacing him behind the bench isn't going to make a big difference.
It has always been the easy, quick fix, firing the coach. It has become a more convenient, quicker fix in the salary cap universe, where major player changes are harder to make and everyone thinks they have a chance of winning right away.
But general managers should exercise patience, lest they become the next quick fix.
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About Scott
- Scott Morrison, the recipient of the Hockey Hall of Fame's 2006 Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award, has been covering hockey for 25 years. The Toronto native began his career at the Toronto Sun in 1979. After spending more than 11 years as a hockey writer and columnist at the paper, Morrison became Sports Editor in 1991 and led the section to being named one of North America's top-ten sports sections in 1999 - the first sports section in Canada to receive the AP Sports Editors North American Award. Scott, a former two-term president of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, joined Rogers Sportsnet in 2001 as Managing Editor, Hockey, and is currently both a commentator on Hockey Night in Canada and a columnist for CBC.ca.
